Treasury Approves Sh93m for BBI Signature Verification

The National Treasury has released Sh93.7 million to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for the verification of Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) signatures.

Previously, the IEBC had asked the Treasury for Sh241 million to review 4.4 million signatures presented by the BBI Secretariat.

However, Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani approved Sh93 million on Thursday, saying the amount is sufficient for the exercise.

“The agreement was that they use what is available for them to move forward since the request falls within their constitutional mandate,” an official privy to the conversations told the Star.

The money is to be used to hire and train clerks who will verify the signatures in a process that would take 85 days to complete.

The IEBC chairman, Wafula Chebukati, decried lack of funds to verify the signatures submitted by the BBI secretariat. Earlier, Chebukati had said that the pace of verification will depend on the available budget. “If we get more money, we will hire more clerks,” he said on Monday, hence likely to take longer in the face of what the Treasury has provided.

Thirdway Alliance Party secretary general, Fred Okang’o questioned the quest for Sh241 million saying, the process would cost less if simplified. “The IEBC should tell Kenyans the exact cost of preparation for the referendum, the cost during the vote and the cost after the same,” he said.

Okang’o went on to argue that since the IEBC does not have a repository of signatures, it should not complicate the process further. “A signature is a mark of approval. Some people have 10 signatures. The IEBC should concentrate on the details of a voter and whether the same is appended in the BBI matches the details of the voter register,” he added.

According to Okang’o, the commission doesn’t need a lot of money if it takes the route of verifying voter details such as polling stations.

The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020, can only be approved in a referendum after it is backed by one million signatures.

If the one million is met, IEBC is expected to hand over the bill to the 47 county assemblies, who will be required to communicate their decision on the bill within 90 days.